My first playthrough was probably 5 or 6 years ago, most recent in the past couple years. And no, I wouldn't really consider it left-wing, because it has no coherent background narrative, but that is part of it's strength. Of course the American terrorist won't have the same view as the Chinese bartender, it is up to the player character to decipher it. Some of the tax related quotes I found are: "Number one: In 1945, corporations paid 50 percent of federal taxes. Now they pay about 5 percent. Number two: in 1900, 90 percent of Americans were self-employed; now it’s about two percent.", and "Big companies pay like two percent tax, while you and me, we pay like fifty. It's the tax code that makes sure big bureaucracy gets bigger and people have no power." Yeah, that could be interpreted as "socialist NWO taking over", but it can just as easily be interpreted as corporate power overtaking governmental and democratic power.
Deus ex isn't a champion of materialistic analysis or anything, but it asks questions and discusses topics that hardly any do, and that is good enough for me. 2000 was a different time, the conspiracy stuff was just popular then, so it made an easy backdrop. Why do you think they put every secret organization they could, from freemasons to aliens to AI?
My first playthrough was probably 5 or 6 years ago, most recent in the past couple years. And no, I wouldn't really consider it left-wing, because it has no coherent background narrative, but that is part of it's strength. Of course the American terrorist won't have the same view as the Chinese bartender, it is up to the player character to decipher it. Some of the tax related quotes I found are: "Number one: In 1945, corporations paid 50 percent of federal taxes. Now they pay about 5 percent. Number two: in 1900, 90 percent of Americans were self-employed; now it’s about two percent.", and "Big companies pay like two percent tax, while you and me, we pay like fifty. It's the tax code that makes sure big bureaucracy gets bigger and people have no power." Yeah, that could be interpreted as "socialist NWO taking over", but it can just as easily be interpreted as corporate power overtaking governmental and democratic power.
Deus ex isn't a champion of materialistic analysis or anything, but it asks questions and discusses topics that hardly any do, and that is good enough for me. 2000 was a different time, the conspiracy stuff was just popular then, so it made an easy backdrop. Why do you think they put every secret organization they could, from freemasons to aliens to AI?